Oliver's Secret Past
by evilpokesalot
Summary: Practices are always a big deal to Oliver, but why is one specific date the hardest practice the Gryffindor Quiddich team ever had to endure? I am horrible at summaries...just read it. And thank you to Taryn for convincing me to finish this.
1. The Beginning

"OI! Kates, get up, it's time for Quiddich practise!" One of my best friends and fellow Chasers, Angelina Johnson, was yelling at me from the doorway. I rolled over to face her and stuck my tongue out at her. She pulled out her wand and grinned. I practically jumped out of bed after that.

Ten minutes I was all ready for practice in my red tank top and black shorts. I walked out to the place everyone always meets for practice. Alicia Spinnet, Angelina, and Fred and George Weasley were waiting for me when I stumbled out. I looked around with weary eyes and noticed one person was missing.

"Where's our beloved Captain this lovely morning?" I muttered, still rubbing my eyes. Alicia, who was standing next to me, poked me in the side.

"Mornin' Sunshine. Of course something about Oliver is the first thing out of your mouth. And if you haven't noticed, Harry isn't here either. Oliver made him go down like an hour ago." Everyone laughed…but me, I just pouted. "Oh, shit. We are so late for practice, Ollie's gonna kill us!" Ali was looking at her watch looking as though it had transfigured into a giant snake.

"Oh, shit!" We all just ran. Down the stairs, once into a wall thinking it was a secret passage. When we passed Filch, George, er Fred, erm, one of the twins threw a Dungbomb at him. About five minutes later, we were skidding onto the Pitch gasping. Fred and I were bent over, trying to catch our breath. Suddenly a shadow put me into the dark. I looked up into the eyes of our wonderful, glorious, luscious, fantastic, breathtaking, STRICT Quiddich Captain, Oliver Wood.


	2. Practice from Hell

Oliver did NOT look happy at all. His eyes caught mine and a small smile caught his lips for a milisecond then he went back to glaring at the rest of the team. I stood up, hoping he wouldnt notice I was still breathing very hard.

"What the HELL took you five so long to get down here?" Oliver's Scottish accent was bursting with anger. Four hands of four different people pointed at me. I realized that if he yelled at everyone else and not at me, it would seem like we're a couple or something, but if he did, I'm no good at getting yelled at, I may just start crying. Crap it's a lose-lose situation.

"Well _excuse_ me for wanting to get dressed before practice. And I wasn't the one talking for like ten minutes after I came out of the dorm!" I pointed at Alicia. Harry walks over, shaking his head, looking as though he had already had a full day of practice.

"Come on you five, I've been here for like an hour and you don't see me complaining!" I just started laughing at this. I couldn't help it! Everyone stared at me but still I laughed. After a couple minutes I caught Harry's eye and he looked a little hurt so I regained control.

"Sorry Harry, but I mean, you're the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One. You never complain about anything!" I tried to explain myself but nobody seemed to want to listen. Harry nodded when I was done making myself look like a loser. Oliver just stood there shaking his head.

"Come on we need practice. Even though we have a month or so until our first game." He turned on his heel and started walking towards the broom shed. "Grab your brooms everyone, practice is starting late. And I want some serious practicing going on here." The rest of us looked at each other then followed quickly. Nobody wanted to be on his bad side today.

Oliver started practice with laps. Laps and laps and laps and laps. I lost count at about a hundred. Fred and George then had to deal with five Bludgers trying to keep all three of us Chasers safe. Oliver was yelling himself hoarse whenever a Bludger almost got one of us. Meanwhile, the three of us were doing passes, as fast as we could or Mr. Quiddich Nazi would make us do more laps. I looked around after I threw the Quaffle to Angelina to see if I could find Harry. He was gone. I think he ran away...No wait, there he is, chasing a Snitch with a Bludger right behind him.

"OI! George get your ass over here and save me from this damn Bludger!" Harry yelled as he gained on the Snitch. George flew over as fast as he could and hit the Bludger so hard, it went through a window of the Castle. Oliver whipped around at the sound of glass breaking. I think everyone was thinking the same thing; "Oh, shit."

Oliver bellowed at George to go save the castle and everyone in it from the Bludger. Fred captured all five still attacking us Chasers and put them away. A couple minutes later, he went to go help George save the castle. Oliver called to the rest of us telling us practice was over. Alicia practically fell off her broom in exhaustion. Angelina and I helped her to the ground then to the locker room. I poked my head out and called to Oliver to wait for me.

After I had showered and was ready to go back to the Castle for something to eat, I walked out of the locker room putting my long blonde hair in a ponytail. Oliver was nowhere to be seen. I looked around then called his name twice. Lovely, I hope he's not too mad at me. I just decided to drop it for now and go into the Great Hall for dinner with Alicia and Angelina.


	3. The Meeting

When Angelina, Alicia, and I got to the Great Hall, we took seats near the door, I didn't see Oliver anywhere. I dropped it to talk to Alicia and Angelina about other things, like the homework. Even though they're a year older than me, we help each other with homework.

After dinner was over, we followed the crowd back to the common room. Angelina, being like ten feet tall, saw Oliver hunched over his mini Quiddich Pitch like usual. I lead the way over to him, pushing a couple students out of my way. (Yeah they were First years, so what?) Seeing him up close, he looked tired and slightly pale.

"Hey Ollie, why didn't you go down to dinner? You look hungry." I said to him quietly so nobody else around could hear. He looked up at me and I saw his eyes had large bags under them. Oliver looks back down at the Pitch and back at us.

"Look, if you want to know what's going on, you need to meet me by the fire at midnight. All three of you can hear but the one I really want to know is Katie." He talked softer than I did and we all had to bend over to hear him. I felt myself turn red when he said the last part. He nodded once and hunched back over the mini Pitch and started muttering to himself. Angie, Ali and I went into my dorm, knowing nobody would be in there. Ali shut the door.

"What the hell? All of a sudden the rest of the team doesn't matter because little Ollie's got a crush." Alicia looked at me like this was somehow my fault, and I turned slightly redder. Angelina was sitting on my bed not saying a word. I kept my eyes on the floor, having no idea what to say. After a couple minutes of awkward silence, Angelina spoke up.

"Ali you know it's not Katie's fault that Oliver thinks she's beautiful." I blushed deep red and hid my face in a pillow. "But you're right. I think we should get the whole team there tonight so everyone can know. Katie you can talk to Harry, Ali and I will go talk to the twins." Angie grins as she says this along with Alicia. I sigh and nod. We all get out to the common room and I walks over to Harry where he's sitting with Ron and Hermione.

"Hey Harry, uhm, Oli-I mean Wood wants to meet with the team by the fire at midnight. And it's really important so I'd advise you not to miss it." I nod and walk off. God sometimes I hate those two and their crushes on the Beaters. Hermione whispers something to Harry about not going because of classes tomorrow. I roll my eyes, bookworm. I see Alicia and Angelina still over with the twins, laughing at something one of them said. I stomp back upstairs and look at my clock. It's only eleven. Lovely.

Next thing I knew, Alicia was knocking on the door shouting something about it being almost midnight. I turned over then bolt upright. Right, the meeting…. I got up and checked how I looked in the mirror. I had never done that before, except before a date and such. I hurried out the door and down the steps with Ali, without a word from either of us. We met up with Angelina and we sat down near the fireplace with Oliver. He nodded when we sat down and that was the cue for the twins and Harry to come over. Oliver looked shocked when the others came over. And guess who got the dirty look from Mr. Wood? The poor, pathetic, little, blonde Chaser; me.

"What are you three doing here?" Oliver asked trying to act cool and not explode at anyone.

"Well, Katie came over to me and said you called a team meeting." Oh, Harry, poor naïve Harry. And I get the loverly Stare again from Mr. "Stupid Quiddich Nazi" Wood. I gave a pleading look to Ali and Angie when Oliver looked away. After a couple seconds, Ali stepped up. Yes, love you and your crazy crushiness and stuff…

"Oliver, we just all want to know what's going on with you today. We're worried about you." Oliver just stopped looking angry after that second part. He just nods and the rest of the guys find seats. I edged toward Oliver to make room for Harry on the couch with us. Oliver's hand twitched as I laid my hands on my lap, as if to go to hold one, but stopped.

Oliver took a deep breath before looking around at all of us. He fiddled around for a minute then looked at me, then his feet, then everyone else in turn. He opened his mouth drawing in a long breath as if to start but exhales it. I can tell this is really hard to say, whatever it is. He looked down at his feet and started again. This time he talked.

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A/N: Like the ending Tare? Yeah that was just for you! Luffes you!

Find out Oliver's secret in the next chapter...it should be up very very soon!


	4. The Secret

"The reason I've been in such a horrible mood today is because…" The sentence ended with him mumbling something at the floor. The rest of us looked at each other then back at him. Alicia raised her eyebrows at me and nods toward him. I give her a dirty look and put my hand comfortingly on his shoulder. He looked up at me and I smiled at him.

"My horrible mood was caused by the date. Today is my birthday." We all gave him "happy birthday"s. I knew that couldn't be it. Who feels like shit on their birthday, other than that girl from Sixteen Candles, yeah I have quite a few Muggle friends… I gave him a sympathetic look to let him know that couldn't be it. He looked back at his feet.

"Ok, that's not the only thing about today. Erm, I mean yesterday." He corrected himself as he looked at his watch. "I'm sorry this is just really hard to tell anyone. Even my own Quiddich team." He looked around again his gaze stopping on the twins. Fred was mouthing something to George until he saw Oliver looking at him. All I caught was something about "the blonde pixie-like Chaser." I glared at Fred and he gulped under the pressure of having both of us glaring.

Suddenly, Oliver seemed like he was ready to finish what he was saying. He cleared his throat and I turned back to face him again.

"As I was saying, before Fred expressed his love for Katie, today is not only my birthday. It's also the anniversary of the death of my mother." I giggled then froze at this. Why hadn't this ever come up before?

"Oh, Ollie, I'm so sorry. Anything I can do to help you?" I moved my hand down and took his in mine. Oh, shit, I'm holding his hand. He looked up into my eyes and smiled. I could feel five pairs of eyes on the back of my head, four smiling.

"Please, there's no reason to apologize. It's not like you killed her or anything. There's not much you can do unless you can bring my mom back from the dead." He looked slightly unhappy again. I stood up, forgetting I was still holding his hand. I sat back down and looked over at Alicia and Angelina. Both had plastered fake sadness on their faces over their grins.

"Look, Oliver, there's not much you can do if she's dead. All you can do is live life to the fullest. I'm willing to help you if you need it." I had turned back to him and after I finished talking, I squeezed his hand. He gave me a small, sad smile and nodded a thanks. I let go of his hand and stood up to go to bed.

He stood up too, as if to signal the end of the meeting. Everyone else got up and Harry lead everyone up to bed. I ended up being the last one in the line to get upstairs, except for Oliver. He hadn't moved since he stood up. I looked over and saw him standing there so I walked back over to him.

"Everything okay Mr. Wood?" Wait, I just called him Mr. Wood? Smooth Kates, real smooth. The same reaction seemed to be fighting to take over Oliver's face. He nodded. I tried to stifle a yawn, since it was 1:00 already. Mr. Quiddich Nazi Wood took over Oliver again as he said in a soft but stern voice like usual.

"You need to get more sleep, my little blonde pixie-like Chaser." I stuck my tongue out at him. I turned around one last time before I walked into my dorm. He gave me a smile I haven't seen from him in a long time.

As I got ready to go to sleep, all I could see in my mind was that smile he gave me. I realized what I had to do sometime over that weekend. I just hoped he would appreciate it.


	5. Quiddich

Days rolled by as I planned with Angelina and Alicia. Suddenly it was the day of our big Quiddich match against Slytherin. We all sat together at breakfast and barely said a word. We knew that Oliver could possibly still be in the sour mood from the other day. I glanced over to him a couple times but he looked fine. I reached over to get more pumpkin juice and saw Harry just staring at his plate with Ron and Hermione trying to coax him to eat.

"…Just some toast or something, Harry, or you'll never survive against the Slytherins…" Ron was saying. I rolled my eyes. He never was good at helping. I grabbed the pumpkin juice and poured myself some. After what seemed like hours, Oliver stood up and walked out with just a word "now."

I glanced over at the other five and we all stood up to follow Oliver out. Alicia gave me a nudge as if to tell me to go talk to him. I rolled my eyes and pouted but still ran to catch up with him.

"Ollie…" I started as I caught up to him. He looked down at me and smiled. We walked the rest of the way in silence, probably confusing the hell out of the others. We parted at the locker rooms, him going into the guys', me going into the girls'.

Five seconds after I opened my locker and was pulling out my robes, I heard the door slam behind me. I jumped and turned around.

"Spill." One word came out of a grinning Angelina. I started changing into my robes and shrugged. Alicia and Angelina were changing as well but kept asking me dumb questions about the walk down.

"Nothing happened, nothing will happen, goodbye." I finished changing and stuck my other clothes into my locker. I walked over to the door connecting the locker rooms. "You four done yet?"

A muffled yell and what sounded like someone being thrown against the door answered me. A couple more shouts and bangs and the door opened. I looked past Oliver who had opened the door to see benches knocked over and the board lying on top of Harry. I started laughing. When Alicia and Angelina were ready they came over and started laughing too.

I walked past Oliver and pulled Harry out from under the board. He gave me a smile and a thanks before he went over and smacked George on the arm.

"Thanks I really needed that George." George just laughed and high-fived his twin. "And when we lose because our seeker can't move his arm, we'll know who to thank."

We went over a few plays like usual and went out to start the game. When Madame Hooch throws up the Quaffle, I can't remember much after that. The next thing I remember is Harry with the Snitch in his hand and lots of screaming. Most of it positive. I remember everyone flying around Harry and hugging him.

When we were on the ground moving towards the locker rooms, I looked behind me to see where Oliver was. Well he was RIGHT THERE! I could've sworn our lips brushed ever so slightly. I blushed and walked into the locker room. Ali and Angie followed and we all took quick showers. After we were dressed again, we walked out to find the guys waiting for us.

"Lee said something about a party so I thought we should go in together." Fred said as we reached them. Ali and Angie looked at me, knowing this was the time to put the plan into effect. I bit my lip as we walked upstairs, using as many shortcuts as possible.


	6. The Plan

Ok, sorry this took so long. You probably think I was keeping you in suspense? Actually, I kept forgetting. Heh. Well enjoy! Last chapter unless someone can convince me otherwise!

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About four floors up, a First Year came up to me. I stopped and turned to him. He looked like he was gonna explode. I looked back at Angie and Ali and they both shrugged.

"How do you keep a blonde in suspense?" He grinned as he said this then walked away. I stood there for a second confused. Then I called after him.

"Wait! How do you keep a-" I blushed as I realized what just happened. Right then, he was halfway down the corridor. "Come back here you little-!" I screamed and chased after him. He turned around to see me hurtling toward him, shrieked and started sprinting. I pulled out my wand and shot Tarantallegra at him. I laughed and turned as his legs started doing an uncontrollable tap dance. Apparently, nobody told him I was friends with the Weasley twins, whom were laughing hysterically when I got back to them. We all continued up to the Common Room.

"You sure you're ready for this, Katie?" Alicia had always been the one to worry. I nodded but didn't say anything. I was ready, but holy shit was I nervous. I knew what I had to do. George looked over at me obviously a bit confused; they had no idea what was about to go down.

"Erm, Fred, George, you two go on ahead. We just have to stop in the bathroom." Angie took one look at me and knew that was the best thing to do. They nodded and told us we'd see them inside. We bypassed into the nearest bathroom.

"Girls, I don't think I can do this." I said weakly, finally being able to speak. I examined myself in the mirror. The tank top and jeans I was wearing did not look flattering on me anymore. I fiddled with my hair a bit then looked for comfort in the other girls.

"Aw, come on Kates, you can do this! If anyone can, it's you. I mean, you're the only one I've seen him look at that." Thanks Angie, that really helps. I bit my lip and nodded, as if to say let's go.

We walked out of the bathroom and up the last staircase to the seventh floor. I froze at the portrait hole then continued after a bit of persuasion. Angelina said the password then she and Alicia went to find the twins to let me do my work. I stepped in to the loud and crazy crowd that filled the common room.

I weaved in and out of the people looking for Oliver. A bunch of people gave me a "good job" as I went past. I just nodded to them still looking. After a while I gave up and started toward the couches near the fire. About three-quarters of the way over, I hear my name.

"Hey Kates, wait up!" I stopped dead when I heard his voice. Only five people call me Kates, and I knew it was Oliver. I turned around, smiling.

"Hey Ollie." That's all I could say at that point. "Erm…do you want to go find somewhere to sit down?" I was panicking a bit. A bit? What am I kidding? I was freaking out. He nodded and smiled, leading me over to a couch. We sat down and I started more interesting conversation.

"Listen Ollie, I know you think I just think of you as my Quiddich Nazi Captain, but what do you really think of me?" This caught him by surprise and he looked at the floor for a second.

"Erm…well…I dunno. I mean I've only known you forever." He looked up into my eyes then back at the floor. "Why do you want to know?"

"Well…" I started slowly. "You're right, we've known each other forever and ever but have you ever wondered if that's the kind of building block that would create a great relationship?"

He seemed to groan a bit. "Katie, those are some strong words. Don't say them unless you mean it. I don't want to get hurt again." I had forgotten his last girlfriend had told him she loved him then cheated on him with Roger Davies. Bitch. Anyway… I shook my head quickly and took a deep breath. Suddenly, this wasn't just a plan, but real life.

"No. Look Ollie, I really do mean it." He looked up and into my eyes. "I care for you, and not just in the friend sense. My heart broke the day she broke yours. And that's how much I care." He leaned in as if to kiss me then smiled.

"If that's what you really think, then I guess I was wrong about you." He whispered to me, inches from my face.

"Oh, really? What did you think of me?" I said, just as quietly, leaning in toward him, closing the gap in between us.

"It really doesn't matter anymore, does it? I was wrong." He smiled a bit wider and leaned back again. Damn it, so close. I leaned back as well and crossed my arms. We sat there for a second looking at each other. I wondered what he was thinking, probably something about how awful I looked. My stomach rumbled, breaking our silence. I slapped a hand over my stomach as we both started laughing.

"I think the monster in you is hungry there, Kates." he said through his laughter and I poked his ribs. "Come on, let's see if there's still food around." We got up and walked towards the giant tables that hopefully had food on them. I loaded up my plate then looked over at Oliver's. All he had on his was a handful of crisps.

"Don't say a word." I threatened after seeing him look at my plate. He just shrugged and laughed. As we walked back to our seats, we started talking about the game.

"You know, the scary thing is I thought we were playing awfully today. Guess not though. And you poke me again, I'm gonna break off your finger." He added the last part as he leaned away from my finger and ran into some random guy. I giggled at him.

"You really are one of the stupidest people I've ever met, Oliver Wood." Instead of poking, I jabbed him with my elbow. He rubbed his ribs where my elbow made contact with him. "Soooooorry Ollie." I laughed. He poked me back and we sat down again.

We chatted for a while and when we were done eating, he said something I would never forget. "You know Kates, you may just be exactly what I've been looking for." I smiled slightly shyly and he leaned in towards me. We were about half a centimeter away from kissing when something jumped onto my lap, which made me jump backwards, falling off the end of the couch. There was a roar of laughter from behind the couch.

"What the hell was that?" I was freaking out a bit as I glared at, you guessed it, the twins. Oliver was pushing it off the couch as I stood up again and crossed my arms. "Crookshanks? What the fuck?" I was furious. I looked around the room and stormed out of the portrait hole.


	7. Damn Crookshanks!

Ok, seriously, last chapter. The last one was getting waaaaaay too long.

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The portrait hole slammed behind me and I stormed down the corridor. I found an empty classroom down a little while and kicked open the door. I closed the door behind me and sat in a dark corner just letting the tears fall. Why the hell did they have to do that?

About five minutes later I heard my name called along with a beam of wand light. I wiped my eyes as the doorknob turned. I stayed still hoping whoever it was wouldn't see me. The door opened and Oliver's face poked into the room.

"Kates? Katie?" He looked around the turned to leave but I stood up.

"Ol, please don't leave. I just had to leave that crowd." He walked over to me and he sat down with me in the corner. I wiped a stray tear off my face and smiled at him.

"Kates, I know how much your reputation means to you, but I think you overreacted a bit-now hear me out." He added after seeing me inflate, about to yell at him. "You are getting better though, you notice right? I mean, when I first met you, you wouldn't do _anything _because you thought it would change how people thought of you. And now look at you, you're friends with the Weasley twins for goodness sake!" I laughed at that. I couldn't help it.

"But how do you do it? I mean you're every girl's dream guy and every guy wants to be you, well with the exceptions of the Twins." He laughed, but quieted down, knowing I wasn't finished. "You're always so cool to those girls. And everyone else. I mean, if that many guys were after me, I'd end up doing something stupid to get them to go away."

Oliver grinned. "And that would differ from any other day how?" I pushed him lightly to get my point across then he continued. "But I have one question for you. Am I _your_ dream guy?" I sat there for a second, not knowing what to say.

"Good question." We laughed for a second. "Uhm, I think you are, yeah." I said it lightly, trying to be cool about it, but I could feel my heart racing as I said it. He was sitting with me, so I knew he could feel, or maybe even _hear_ it beating faster, and sure enough, he smiled.

"Are you sure you just think? 'Cause it seems like your heart has other ideas." He put his arm around my shoulders as if he were trying to see how fast he could get my heart to go. I giggled.

"That's not fair. My heart uses another part of my brain than I can control." I couldn't stay mad at him. Maybe that means he really is my dream guy. I looked up into his half-hidden face in the dark. He looked the same, but he had this certain quality I couldn't quite put my finger on. He was smiling that brilliant smile of his and his soft, chocolatey brown eyes were on me, seeming to smile as well. Damn it, he knew what I was thinking. So what did I do? I ruined the moment by sticking my tongue out at him. He laughed, which is usual for him when I do stuff like that. Okay, so maybe he didn't know.

"So, what do you think of me? Am I your dream girlfriend?" I asked nonchalantly. He surveyed me for a second.

"Nope." He answered after a second and my mouth dropped open. As he explained, he very gently closed my mouth, but didn't move his hand from my chin after he succeeded. "You're not my dream girlfriend. That doesn't mean that I don't care for you a lot and I want to be with you forever. Dream girlfriend? No. Soul mate? Probably. You're very unorthodox, Kates, have to give you that. But you're just so irresistible." With that, he gently pulled my forward and our lips met, yet again. After a couple seconds, he pulled away turning slightly red, but not nearly as red as I was.

"Sorry," He whispered. I did the only thing I could at that point; I leaned in and kissed him. It was a bit harder than the last, more meaningful, but not crushing or anything. My arms found themselves around his neck, hands behind his neck, his hands were on my waist. After what seemed like forever, we broke apart. I looked up at him, a small smile on my face.

"Well, now, knowing you wanted to do that, why the hell didn't you do that when we were in the Common Room?" He cracked a grin as I dropped my arms from around his neck and put my hands on his, still looking into his eyes.

"I tried. Or do you not remember? When Crookshanks attacked our faces?" He drops his gaze and moves his hands from my waist. Surprisingly, all he did was take my hands and move them back around his neck. He then rested his hands on my waist again and looks back to my face. "Plus, we never would've been able to have this talk if we had kissed in there." I shrugged, knowing her was right. He leaned in and pecked my lips softly.

"True. I also like how this feels; just you and me. Me with my arms around you, you with your hands on me. It feels so comfortable." I smiled and leaned in to kiss him again, but he turned so I just kissed his cheek. I gave him a pout and dropped my arms and crossed them over my chest. "Meanie. Please, just one more kiss? Then we'll go back in and pretend nothing happened?" He took his hands off my waist and crossed them and put a mimicking frown on his face.

"Why? Do you want it to be like nothing happened in here?" My frown became more pronounced as he said this, realizing the stupidity in my words.

"No. I'd much rather go in there holding hands with you and kiss you in front of everyone. And if you say it like that, 'nothing happened in here' it sounds like we had sex or something." He laughed at this and nodded, as though realizing it did sound like that. He kissed me again before he stood up and offered me a hand to help me up too. "Always a gentleman." I remarked, grinning, as I took his hand. We kept holding hands as we walked out of the room and down the hall towards the Common Room. As the Fat Lady's Portrait swung open, I held my breath, waiting to see the other Gryffindors' reaction to us climbing in together; as if it mattered!


End file.
